Your Reputation Precedes You

AKA Bed-Stuy

Archetypal Architecture Brownstones and stoops

Preferred Community Event Hanging out in front of brownstones and on stoops

Claim to Fame Spike Lee movies, hip-hop, more than a century of black culture

Notable Residents Biggie Smalls, GZA, Jay-Z, Mos Def, Mike Tyson

Kindred Spirit Hyde Park, Chicago

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AKA Williamsburg West

Archetypal Architecture Craftsmans, mid-century moderns, Spanish-style courtyards, strip malls

Preferred Community Event Days at the dog park, drinking wine out of plastic cups, counting ever-increasing number of strollers

Claim to Fame Indie rock, gentrification, formerly affordable rents

Notable Residents Beck, Jenny Lewis, Ryan Gosling

Kindred Spirit Williamsburg, Brooklyn (but really Park Slope, what with all the strollers)

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AKA SoCo

Archetypal Architecture Moon towers\n

Preferred Community Event Drinking Lone Stars, anything involving music\n

Claim to Fame Weirdness, prevalence of independent businesses

Notable Residents Mike Judge, Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez (er, at least in Austin)

Kindred Spirit Downtown Omaha, Nebraska; Whittier, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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AKA The bum capital of New England

Archetypal Architecture Colonials. Greek Revivals, old buildings made of bricks

Preferred Community Event Outdoor chess, subversive politics, telling people you went to college “in Boston”

Claim to Fame The nation’s original college town

Notable Residents A host of presidents from Adams to Obama, musicians from Yo-Yo Ma to Tom Morello, writers from T. S. Eliot to William Burroughs

Kindred Spirit Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley (and, perhaps, aspects of North Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto)

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AKA South End

Archetypal Architecture Cape Cods, foursquares, stone bungalows, lots of porches

Preferred Community Event Appreciating nature

Claim to Fame Beards, color-changing leaves

Notable Residents Ted Bundy, Howard Dean (or, the Five Sisters environs)

Kindred Spirit Whitaker, Eugene, Oregon; all of Boulder, Colorado

This article first appeared in GOOD Issue 19: The Neighborhoods Issue. You can read more from the issue here, or find out what it's all about by reading the issue introduction.